Neville and Hannah The Wedding
by nut-tree
Summary: An extra chapter to my "Neville and Hannah" story - one shot , fluff and: suprise, surprise, its about their wedding - please R R!


They had wanted a simple wedding: just one day, after the years of hiding, excuses and hurried, embarrassed explanations, to show everyone just how much they loved each other. But, thought Neville, as he nervously took his seat in the front row, it was never going to be that easy.

Nemesis had overtaken his and Hannah's quiet plans in the shape of his gran, who until recently had harboured a secret misgiving that Neville would never get a girl to marry him, and also happened to approve whole heartedly of Hannah – seeing at once through her gentleness an occasional fit of the giggles to the grit and determined loyalty that lay beneath.

And so the second they told her about their engagement she was off, informing everyone she knew and some people she didn't , calling in decades old favours and locking a bemused Hannah into the drawing room with her for hours discussing guest lists, table decorations, dresses, flowers , the lot. And the bridesmaids hadn't exactly helped either, pushing the wedding bigger and bigger in their excitement and infectious enthusiasm.

Some things, though, the important things, they did get a say in. Neville had insisted that they got married in the Longbottom's garden, just like his parents and grandparents before them and, looking around himself, he was glad he had.

The autumn sunshine lit up the fruit trees in a feast of green, red and gold around the lawn where the party was assembled and some of that summer's crop of blackberries still lingered in the tangle of brambles that made up the hedge, dark and sticky in their rich promise. His own plants were there too, filling the overcrowded flowerbeds, their scent filling the air whilst the drone and flutter of various insects competed with the soft music played by the string short, it was just perfect.

The other matter on which they had both refused to budge on was the matter of the maid of honour and the best man and, as if hearing his thoughts (and to be honest he wouldn't put it past her.) Luna turned from his seat beside him to smile encouragingly at him.

He had been surprised, when she came down the stairs to meet him, on how pretty she looked, so used was he to seeing her in bright, shapeless clothes with her hair looking like she'd forgotten to brush it for weeks-which she probably had. Today she sat beside him in the simple, blue-grey dress Hannah had picked out for her bridesmaids which matched exactly with her eyes, and the usual misty half smile she wore had been replaced by a beam that was almost indecent in its display of pure, unadulterated excitement for her best friend – the shy looking man with glasses a few seats away seemed unable to keep his eyes of her.

Luna turned to him again, (Neville noticed that her wand was still safely stashed behind her right ear)but this time whispered:

"I think she's coming in a minute- I suppose we should probably stand up now… you do look pale Neville."

So they did, staring at the front doors of his house and studiously avoiding the row where he knew Ron, Dean, Seamus and harry were sitting and, he was sure, trying to make him laugh- even under the fear of the combined wrath of Hermione, Ginny and Lavender.

His gran sat on the front row, her usual vulture adorned hat discarded for one that resembled a lime green satellite dish and if she wasn't crying she was certainly blinking rather more than necessary

Some seats had also been left empty for those missing from the proceedings: his granddad, Colin, Fred and several more of the DA who ought to have been there with them. But it was the three seats left in the middle of the front row that his gaze kept returning to again and again; the ones where Hannah's mother and his parents should have been.

He felt a small pressure on his arm and knew without looking that it was Luna again.

"Don't worry, they're here…"

Before he had time to say anything in return, the music in the air died away and then rose suddenly into the tune he'd heard so many times at other weddings, for other people and his heart started racing as the crowd stood and turned expectantly to the now open door.

First came a selection of Hannah's small cousins, throwing flowers and giggling amongst themselves as they walked down the aisle, then a few of her friends from school that Neville had only spoken to a couple of times followed by Ernie acting as "maid of honour" and beaming proudly, leading Susan Bones who had unexpectedly become hugely attractive since leaving school and who rather a lot of the guys (including Ernie) were eyeing up hopefully. Then, finally, she came.

Her dress was simple, strapless and gathered up slightly at the top, before skimming over her hips and collecting in folds of net at her feet like the foam at the bottom of a waterfall. Beside her walked her father, Neville had got used to seeing him as a sad and quiet man- still holding within him a scarcely concealed grief after the death of his wife-but today there was nothing at all withdrawn about that smile and he stood straight and proud by his daughter- perhaps he had caught a glimpse of her face earlier. If he had Neville thought that the change in him would be no miracle at all.

Perhaps it was the way her hair was properly up for the first time he could remember since the yule ball- leaving only one soft strand free to curve lovingly around her jaw, or perhaps that, simply, he had never seen her this happy. Her lips were slightly parted, her cheeks could have been made from porcelain, but it was her eyes that touched him so much. They burned into his own with no touch of nervousness or misgivings as he had feared- just the same trust and, well, completeness that he had seen the first time he kissed her – only now they also held the knowledge of what being with him meant, the happiness it would bring, and it made her all the more beautiful.

She walked all the rest of the length of the isle, her gaze never wavering from his for a second, and as she kissed her father on the cheek and left him to stand with Neville, it seemed that they were completely alone, just as they had been the night of the yule ball. Someone, somewhere, was answering the little man with the sing-song voice, giving his heart into her keeping forever, but really the two of them were back in the moonlit garden between the greenhouses-reaching for someone in the darkness and finding , in the touch of their hand, everything they'd ever wanted.

Then, back in the sunshine he felt the touch of her lips on his and the roar of applause and wolf whistles that meant nothing could ever come between them again.

The End.


End file.
